Harbor teachers file unfair labor practice

HARBOR SPRINGS - The union representing teachers in the Harbor Springs Public School district filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Michigan Employment Relations Committee this week.

The complaint alleges the district has not taken a good-faith approach in some aspects of recent contract negotiations.

The last labor agreement reached between Harbor Springs and the bargaining agent for its teachers, the Northern Michigan Education Association, expired on Aug. 31 but has been extended to Sept. 30. Negotiations toward a new contract have been taking place since July.

Terry Cox, a field representative for the Michigan Education Association - which filed the complaint with the MERC on behalf of the local union - said her primary concern is with the Harbor Springs district's overall approach to the bargaining process rather than any specific actions it has taken in negotiations.

"Collective bargaining is a process and it's a relationship, too," she said. "When the (district) refuses to participate in the process, you can't establish a bargaining relationship."

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Added Cox: This has never happened (before) in Harbor, certainly in my tenure. I've been up here 12 years."

Reached while attending a conference in Traverse City Thursday, Harbor Springs superintendent Dave Larson said he hadn't yet had the opportunity to review the written unfair labor practice complaint.

"I was surprised by the ULP," he said. "Our sessions have been very cordial."

Larson added that the most time in bargaining sessions has been spent talking about union proposals.

"There's been a great resistance on their part in even reviewing and discussing our proposal," he said. "Collective bargaining requires bargaining in good faith and it requires (give and take) from both sides."

According to documents faxed to the News-Review, the Michigan Education Association, on behalf of the NMEA, sent an unfair labor practice complaint to the NMEA on Tuesday.

It alleges that Harbor Springs had indicated a desire to investigate different health insurance carriers for teachers in hope of reducing costs, but that the district would maintain the same level of benefits.

According to the complaint, the NMEA agreed to listen to insurance presentations along these lines and that the district assured the union when the presentations began July 20 that the same benefits were being sought for a reduced cost.

Since then, the complaint alleges the district has denied saying the insurance presentations had such a purpose. The union alleged this was a deceptive tactic that represents a failure to bargain collectively in good faith.

In addition, the union indicates the district, through superintendent Larson, had notified the NMEA that it would agree to a four-year contract if the district's entire initial proposal regarding salaries and benefits were accepted. Since then, the complaint alleges that the district has pursued a strategy to require the union to acquiesce to this initial proposal before other issues can be negotiated.

Without an agreement to this proposal, Cox said the district has refused to sign off on carryover language from the previous contract which neither side has questioned. The union views this as bad-faith bargaining tactics as well.

The NMEA indicated that it has submitted proposals and counterproposals but that the district has consistently rejected these and returned its focus to the initial proposal. In the union's view, the district appears to have made up its mind and will only accept a new contract on its terms - a tactic the NMEA saw as adoption of a firm position early in the bargaining process and one that represents bad faith.

The complaint also alleges that when the union asked the district for specific details on its salary proposal, Larson indicated it was the union's job to develop this. Though the union indicated it eventually presented this salary schedule proposal, it alleged the district continues to berate the NMEA's team for not developing this proposal. In the process, the union alleges the district failed to bargain in good faith through its failure to produce a timely proposal and that it treated members of the union bargaining team in an intimidating and harassing way that interfered with their participation in bargaining.

In the complaint, the union seeks to have the MERC conduct an evidentiary hearing on the matter.

"I hope that they will order the board to bargain in good faith," Cox said.

Roy Roulhac, an administrative law judge for the MERC, said Thursday that he had not yet seen the union's complaint documentation. Once it's received, he said a hearing likely will be scheduled on the matter and concerned parties notified. It likely will be several months before a hearing can take place, Roulhac added.